Six months after a public roll-out ceremony on June 8, 2016, Russian manufacturer Irkut has completed installing a modular final assembly line for the MC-21-300 airliner and begun ground testing.

Irkut revealed several pictures of the first MC-21-300 prototype (0001) on Tuesday, saying "MC-21-300-0001 airliner in the final assembly shop #avgeek #mc21".

The single-aisle MC-21, designed for 163 to 211 seats, is scheduled to take its first flight from Irkutsk early 2017. Deliveries are slated to begin in late 2018 at a list price of about US$90 million per plane.